


First Contact

by traptrixnepenthes



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard, Inazuma Eleven, Inazuma Eleven GO
Genre: M/M, additional characters to be added as story progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-10 06:21:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4380569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traptrixnepenthes/pseuds/traptrixnepenthes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>endou mamoru is one of a handful of cardfighters at raimon junior high, and he's determined to get his friend kazemaru ichirouta into the game as well. this is all fine and good, until kazemaru notices some cards glow softly, and it feels like the game, and one card in particular, is calling out to him...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was the first time Kazemaru had ever been to a card shop—and it wasn’t really like he was here of his own volition. Endou had said something about how if he _just tried to play_ he’d _really enjoy it_ and so he was dragged along to the shop. But he wasn’t here entirely unwillingly, either—Endou had kept going on and on about how there was a tournament coming up and he still didn’t have a full team. What kind of friend would Kazemaru be if he didn’t at least _try_ to help?

The inside was brightly lit, at the very least, and even from the entryway he could hear the loud hubbub of the other customers at the back. There was also that underlying smell of—Kazemaru knew he was being elitist even as he shuddered internally— _nerds_. Brightly colored boxes of card packs were lined up behind a counter manned by a gruff-looking old man with dark glasses, and at the back of the shop was probably the cardfighting area, as evidenced by an angry voice that said, “You need _fifteen_ thousand to guard, not _ten_ thousand, dammit! Don’t let me win this easy!”

Kazemaru wasn’t even surprised when Endou made a beeline for that particular table. He trailed behind, staring at the walls rather than risking the chance of eye contact with any other customers. The walls had framed cards and what Kazemaru figured were playmats, probably ones that were old and valuable. He thought he saw a bit of an odd shimmer to some of them, but that was probably just how the foil looked in the light.

“Someoka! Handa!” The angry kid, who looked to be the same age as Endou and Kazemaru, was scowling across the table at a really plain looking kid who was probably debating with himself what other card to guard with. “You really are using your ancient unit for the tournament, huh?”

“Of course I am!” The angry kid (probably Someoka, Handa was a plain name for a plain kid) grinned and tapped one of the cards in front of him, a black dragon swathed in fire. “Vortex Dragon hasn’t failed me yet! The old cards are still good!”

Endou laughed good-naturedly, and turned to the plain kid (Handa, Kazemaru assumed). “Maybe you should swap some of your stands for draws so your hand won’t be so limited this late in the game, y’know? Just the draws from the start of the turn and the drive check aren’t enough!”

Handa grumbled something under his breath, and just flipped over the top card of his deck and groaned, putting it on the end of a line of them on the left of his field, some face-up and face-down. “Ugh. See, there you go, another win for your crusty old cards. Are you happy with four to zero or are you gonna challenge Endou next?”

“I’d love to get stomped by him, but I’m trying to get my friend to start playing.” Endou gestured to Kazemaru and both the angry kid and the plain kid were staring at him, and the only thing he could think to do was wave at them awkwardly. “This is Kazemaru! He doesn’t know anything about Vanguard yet, so…”

“I’m not lending him my deck,” Someoka said bluntly. “A newbie like him wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! I wasn’t planning on having him borrow either of your decks, probably. I figure it’d be better if he had a card to work with first, so…we’re gonna leave it to fate and base it on the first rare he pulls!” Endou said it all so brightly that Kazemaru found himself nodding along in agreement, until what his friend had said actually hit him.

“Wait, hold everything. You’re going to leave the entire chance of me playing to _luck_? What if I don’t get something decent?” He crossed his arms and frowned at Endou, who was still grinning. “What if I end up with a card like—like _he’s_ using?”

Kazemaru jabbed a finger towards Handa’s field and there was an indignant sound from his side of the table, but Endou just laughed. “No worries! How about we, erm, just try until you get a grade 3 rare, then? You brought money, right?”

“…yeah. How much do these packs cost?” It wasn’t really any use arguing, since he had come in here for the express purpose of helping out Endou anyways.

Endou led him back to the front, and there Kazemaru stood before the counter and the intimidating proprietor, looking at the rows of boxes. He had to pick wisely, otherwise…who knew what’d happen. As he looked them all over, he noticed a shimmering light coming from one of the boxes, an orange and yellow one. It was weird and he was sure it had to just be the lighting, but the pale, multicolored glow had him captivated. It was weird, sure, but not threatening. “Can I, um, can I check the packs in that box? The yellow one?” He pointed at it, and the owner pulled it down for him.

It was just one pack, shining underneath a couple others, and when he pulled it out the glow faded away almost immediately. The whole thing had to have been his imagination, but he still felt completely set on this particular pack. There was something good in it, he could _feel_ it.

He counted out the necessary amount of money for it and then headed back, pack carefully in his hands. Handa and Someoka had pulled up two more chairs to their table, and he and Endou sat. All eyes were on him, or rather on the pack, and it felt more like some sort of solemn, occult ritual than just opening a pack. He tore it open but before he could pull out any of the cards Someoka said, “Just go for the one at the very back, that’s the rare one. It’s the one you’re looking for, got it?”

Kazemaru reached to the back of the pack and slid the last card out but before he could see what it was, he was somewhere else. Someplace dark and covered in a sea of mist—mist, or was it very fine snow?—surrounded by dead, spindly trees. In the branches of the trees just in front of him sat someone—they were hard to see in the mist, and Kazemaru stepped forward.

Long snow-white hair framed a pretty snow-white face, and clear blue eyes stared back at him. He—Kazemaru was sure the figure was a he for some reason—wore a white kimono, tied with an obi the same color as the faint, soft pink streaks in his hair, pulled back in low twintails. He was elegant and haunting and just as Kazemaru was about to ask who he was and where they were, he was back in his chair at the card shop.

Someoka leaned over the table, trying to look at the card he’d pulled, but Kazemaru was just staring at it blankly. It looked just like the person he’d seen--but something was wrong. This card’s hair wasn’t long enough, the eyes were all wrong, and the accents were red instead of pink. The contrast was so starkly obvious that he couldn’t help but blurt out, “Th-this isn’t the right card.”

“Huh? Is it not a rare, or a grade 3 or something?” Endou peered over at the card, and shrugged. “Huh, actually, it looks like you’ve got some pretty good luck, since you got something really good!”

“No, I mean, the art--it’s all wrong. Like, the hair, it should be longer--”

“What are you talking about, Kazemaru? This is how Shirayuki has always looked. Are you thinking of a different card or something? I didn’t know you knew any Vanguard cards, Kazemaru!”

“No, I--” He faltered, glancing at the card in his hand again. Maybe he _had_ been mistaken in what he’d seen. But why was he so certain of what he’d seen--it was a dream, a hallucination. It obviously couldn’t have been real, no matter how real it had felt. “...Never mind. I guess I...whatever.”

The other two looked at him weirdly, but Endou just shrugged. “Well, that’s okay! I have a few more copies of her--”

“Her?” Kazemaru couldn’t help it, he was confused. He shouldn’t have been surprised at even more differences between the phantom he’d seen and the real deal, but it had just seemed so clear and real...

“Oh, uh, I guess I’d just assumed that--”

“Sorry, forget it.”

“Well anyways, you’re gonna start playing, right? I can probably pull something together for you from what I have!”

“Uh, yeah.” Fake it might have been, but it was still at the front of Kazemaru’s thoughts. “Are you gonna teach me the game now or later or what?”

Through the entire explanation of the game and how to play, he was barely paying attention. He couldn’t stop thinking about the figure he’d seen, the one that wasn’t quite Shirayuki, and why he’d seen that phantom. He’s never hallucinated before, and weren’t they not supposed to be on all the senses?

Just what had happened to him when he touched that card, and why?

\------

Soon enough, the rules to Vanguard were pounded into his head, and even though Endou had said that Kazemaru wouldn’t be borrowing a deck, he’d gotten used to the game with Handa’s Jewel Knight deck. He hadn’t gotten the chance to use Shirayuki yet, and he hadn’t even touched the card again since he gingerly set it to the side where he could keep an eye on it.

During both of his matches, the card had shone softly when he’d first ridden to Grade 3, and one time the top card of the deck he was using had glimmered and he’d (as Someoka called it) topdecked the trigger he’d needed to win.

Someone complained when he lost, something about beginner’s luck, and even Endou had talked about Kazemaru’s luck (as if some sort of hidden talent for Vanguard had nothing to do with it, Kazemaru thought). Handa just said something about having an idea of how to fix his deck up more now.

But was it luck? It might have been, but somehow it felt more to Kazemaru like the cards were leading him to victory, like knights bringing their nation to conquest. While some part of that might have been related to the cards he’d been playing, there was still more to it than that. He couldn’t exactly place what it was, but...

Soon enough, it was time for him to go home, and even when he carefully picked Shirayuki’s card up again, there were no more phantoms to be seen. Kazemaru slipped it someplace safe where it wouldn’t get bent and went home. He kept expecting something else to pop out at him, monsters or ghosts, or to be transported to that dark snowscape again, and maybe this time actually get a better look at that figure he’d seen. Getting a part two of a dream was a thing that happened, right?

But nothing else happened for the rest of the evening. The walk home was uneventful, attempting to finish his homework was uneventful, eating was uneventful, texting friends from the track team about practice tomorrow was uneventful, showering and getting ready for bed was uneventful. Maybe he’d just been tired--there had been days where after practice he’d been so exhausted his vision had clouded over every time he stood up, and maybe this was just a more extreme version of that. Kazemaru took the card out from where he’d put it to keep it safe, and again, no bitter cold hit him, no dead trees sprung into being, no nothing happened on contact.

He set it on his desk, thought again about how the card art just didn’t look right to him, and then went to bed.

\------

It felt like he woke up the moment his head hit the pillow, laying in a pile of snow. It was bitterly cold, but even as snow burned against his skin it didn’t actually feel...painful. Like it was natural, like this had happened before, or like he’d been laying in this pile of snow, asleep, for as long as he’d been alive. Kazemaru pushed himself to his feet, looking at what was around him. The sky was pitch black--no stars, no moon, as if someone had put a cloth over a birdcage, and dead trees with pale wood and branches like outstretched arms filled the area around him. Snow was falling, so fine and light it was just frozen mist, and Kazemaru knew exactly where he was. Looked like he’d be getting that part two of his dream after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Kazemaru walked through the dead forest, snow crunching under his bare feet, but the cold didn't penetrate far. He didn't even question why there was basically no effect--it was a dream, after all. He was more concerned by the fact that the mysterious figure he'd seen the first time wasn't around. The forest seemed to go on forever in all directions--no matter where he looked, dead trees and snow were what greeted him. The only thing Kazemaru could do was search.

The endless landscape was really hard to get lost in, since all he did was walk straight. Even through the falling snow, it didn't melt when it touched him, just...vanishing like it had never existed. The only sounds was snow under his feet, not even his breathing or his heartbeat, and it was eerie enough that after a few ,minutes he needed to break the silence.

"Hey, uh...pink guy? Are you out here? Can you hear me?"

It sounded pretty pathetic, even as he said it. As if he was going to get a response.

And then from behind him, a voice said, "Yes," and Kazemaru nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around and there behind him was the figure he'd seen, this time much closer, and much clearer. The figure smiled, the kind of demure, polite smile you get from someone you accidentally made eye contact with. "It'd be rather difficult not to hear you. After all, we are the only ones here."

"Wh-who are you?" It was the only thing Kazemaru could think of to say.

"I am the endless dream that only lost travelers see. My name is Shirayuki Ranmaru, and you...are exactly where you're meant to be." Even as his lips moved, the rest of his face didn't. None of him moved, and it was only now that Kazemaru noticed there was only one trail of footprints behind them.

All of a sudden, Kazemaru was a lot more apprehensive about talking with this guy. He should have expected it, but once the dream had fallen talking to him had been the only thing on his mind. Cautiously, and ready to bolt at any moment, he said, "That really wasn't as helpful an answer as you probably thought it was. Where are we? And why am I here? And--"

"Please, not so many questions at once." Pale lips on a paler face were smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes. Shirayuki Ranmaru was pretty, yes, even beautiful, but in the same way a well-kept graveyard is. Ominous, foreboding, and all too clearly showing how inevitable death itself was. "This is my forest, on my mountain. Both of which are located in the lands of the Murakumo clan. The lands of this clan are located within the vast Dragon Empire, which in turn is one of the nations of the planet Cray." Cray... All of these terms and places seemed so familiar, like he'd already heard them just before now. "And as to why you are here, my Vanguard, even I don't know."

The smile on Shirayuki Ranmaru's face widened with a touch of humor, and suddenly his ghostly presence felt so much more solid, so much more  _real_. That was when it all clicked in Kazemaru's head.

" _Vanguard_. You're--you're that card I got today, except the card only said Shirayuki, and it doesn't completely look like you, and you're a  _ghost_." Shirayuki Ranmaru nodded along at the rush of words coming out of Kazemaru's mouth, and he tried to say something, but Kazemaru pressed on relentlessly. "Cray is the planet Vanguard fights take place on. You're a card, and you're one of those folktales, one of those ghosts on mountaintops that lure people up to places where they can't survive and you..." What had Shirayuki Ranmaru called himself again? The endless dream only lost travelers see? "...you kill them."

"No."

"What?" The tone of the ghost's voice had been so positive that it really left no room for debate, and it had completely thrown Kazemaru off. He couldn't even say anything else.

"I don't kill them. Anyone who comes into my domain is doomed from the start. It's more like...being merciful." None of this was making Kazemaru feel any better. "No starving or dehydration when they inevitably can't find their way back. No such suffering. When I intervene, it's more like they're...falling to sleep, for a very, very long time." He paused, and studied Kazemaru's face for a few moments. "What's wrong? You look a bit panicked."

"This was all just a setup so you could kill me, wasn't it?" Snow really wasn't prime sprinting territory, but when you're face with a murderous ghost...

"No."

"Again, the tone of Shirayuki Ranmaru's voice was solid enough to completely stop Kazemaru's train of thought in its tracks. "What?"

"Why would I want to do anything that might hurt my Vanguard, the one who will connect me to the other world?"

"I'm pretty sure that as a ghost, you're already pretty solidly connected to the other world." Kazemaru honestly wanted to ask more questions of the spirit, but he wasn't feeling very trusting at the moment.

Instead of lashing out at him like he'd expected, Shirayuki Ranmaru started laughing. It wasn't anything more than soft giggling, but again that show of real, raw emotion made him in turn seem more real. "Not that other world! I meant, connect me to  _your_  world. To Earth."

Shirayuki Ranmaru smiled again, a real one that scrunched up the corners of his eyes, and for just a moment the thought crossed Kazemaru's mind that if he smiled any wider, all the snow around them would melt.

He wasn't beautiful in a cold, deadly way anymore, but beautiful like flowers sprouting through snow--he was as filled with life as a dead person could be. Maybe he really was telling the truth about not wanting to kill Kazemaru.

"...alright, so, how do I connect you to Earth? When I was telling my friends about you, when I last saw you, they said they'd never heard of a card like you."

The more delicate, calculated smile was back, and it put Kazemaru on edge again. "I don't exist in your world yet. Or rather, I only half exist. There is a, ah, emissary from our world in your own, and he is the one who connects us all to Earth. You are, in essence, a go-between for him and I, but--"

"Are--are you just  _using_  me, then?" Kazemaru was tugging on his hair, a habit that only served to cover up his face more. It wasn't easy to get him this worked up, but he was still stuck on the fact that this person--perhaps _thing_  was a better term--had ended the lives of who knows how many people before him. "I'm not going to let a  _card_  treat me like some sort of expendable  _tool_!"

He turned and walked away, shaking from something other than the cold, more upset with himself for even trusting a ghost. Isn't it one of those cliches, the most trustworthy ones are the ones you shouldn't trust? It didn't sound like Shirayuki Ranmaru was following him, and that was fine, he should never have agreed to play this stupid game--

"No!"

And for a third time, Kazemaru was forced to a half by Shirayuki Ranmaru's tone. This one wasn't solid and confident, but hurt, desperate, and pleading.

"You aren't a tool. You...you didn't let me finish my explanation. You are my _Vanguard_ ," and he said it in such a way that it really hit Kazemaru how much he was missing here, "and that means we are connected. More than friends, more than family; we are two bodies with a single soul. I would _never_ do anything to hurt you, because that would be akin to hurting myself. Please, believe me."

He sounded so heartfelt and sincere that now Kazemaru was kicking himself for getting upset with him at all. Someone like Shirayuki Ranmaru, who was only truly real when he was experiencing raw emotion likethis, probably wouldn't, or _couldn't_ lie. Why had he ever mistrusted someone like this?

Kazemaru turned back around, ashamed, and he couldn't meet the ghost's eyes. "I...there are still a lot of things I don't understand. About you, about what's going on, or even about the game itself. So...I'm sorry for getting angry at you. You didn't deserve it. And..." He hesitated, for just a moment. "If you still want me to be your connection to Earth, I can do that."

He was glad he wasn't able to look at Shirayuki Ranmaru right then, because he was certain the smile he got would be as radiant as the sun in this dark landscape.

"I thank you, my Vanguard." There was an awkward pause. "Ah, it just occurred to me that I haven't asked you your name." Shirayuki Ranmaru had reigned himself in again, and it was like the atmosphere had changed completely along with him. It was hard to keep up with him, but...

"My name is Kazemaru Ichirouta. But, uh, I'd rather if you didn't call me your Vanguard anymore. It feels too...stiff."

"Then...my Ichirouta?" He asked it so innocently that Kazemaru couldn't help but blush, just a little. That was _way_ too familiar for a single conversation, most of which was Kazemaru being scared for his life.

"In that case, can I call you 'my Ranmaru'?"

He'd been joking, but the ghost nodded in approval. "I'll allow that. It's only fitting, after all, since I am--"

"That wasn't serious! Look, you can call me by my name, and I'll call you by your name, and that's it." It seemed like it was true that the only people who came around here were lost travelers, and that instead of talking, he...

Trying to get his mind off that topic, he pressed on without pausing for the ghost to respond, and said, "More importantly, you still haven't told me _why_ I'm here. I know you said you didn't know, but..."

The death of mountain travelers, Shirayuki Ranmaru, smiled broadly and clasped Kazemaru's hands in his. His skin was so cold it felt like it was burning against Kazemaru, so cold that frost began to swirl over his hands and arms, chilling him like the snow here couldn't.

The ghost's eyes were icy blue, nearly a colorless white-on-white, and as he pulled Kazemaru to him, he said, "Because you were chosen."

Frost continued to spread over Kazemaru's body, and his senses started to fade. At least Ranmaru hadn't lied about that, he thought dully, it really was just like falling asleep.

\--------

His consciousness faded away, and Kazemaru awoke immediately. He was in a warm bed, light filtering through curtains, only familiar things surrounding him. No snow, no trees, no ghosts desperately pleading with him. It was...a perfectly normal morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly i'm not too happy with this chapter and will probably edit it a ton later (if i do i'll mention it in chapter notes later on) and i promise that future chapters will be less...weird and exposition-y


End file.
